BOZEMAN – Montana State University will welcome Raymond “Paul” Giroux of Kiewit Infrastructure West Co. for a free public lecture about building the Golden Gate Bridge on Tuesday, Nov. 5, in the Hager Auditorium at MSU’s Museum of the Rockies.

The presentation, “Building Golden Gate Bridge,” will begin at 7 p.m.

The early 20th century was the golden age of long-span suspension bridges, yet many experts considered spanning the Golden Gate Strait an impossible task. Working during the Great Depression, the bridge’s builders faced daunting political, financial and technical challenges. Eager to meet these challenges, extraordinary engineers and construction workers converged on San Francisco in the early days of 1933.

With historic photographs and striking animations, Paul Giroux brings the construction of the bridge to life.

Giroux, who has been the American Society of Civil Engineer’s chairman for commemorating the 75th anniversary of the Golden Gate Bridge, earned his bachelor’s degree in construction engineering from Iowa State University in 1979. Since then, he has been with Kiewit Corporation and has played a key role in several heavy civil engineering mega projects, including Fort McHenry Tunnel in Baltimore, portions of the so-called “big dig” in Boston and, most recently, the new east span of the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge.

Giroux is the author of several bridge design and civil engineering history papers and has presented lectures at nearly 40 engineering schools throughout the United States. Kiewit Corporation and MSU’s Civil Engineering Department are sponsoring Giroux’s Bozeman lecture.